Explanation:
This picture of
Saturn could not have been taken from
Earth. No
Earth
based picture could possibly view the night side of Saturn
and the corresponding shadow cast across
Saturn's rings.
Since Earth is much closer to the
Sun than
Saturn, only the day
side of the planet is visible from the
Earth. In fact, this photo was taken
by the
Voyager 1 spacecraft as it flew by
Saturn
in November 1980. The
next spacecraft to approach Saturn will be
Cassini which is currently
scheduled to be be launched next year and reach Saturn in 2004.